Peanut-planter.



A. L. STEERE.

PEANUT PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. 1911.

1,97%58. Patented Aug. 20,1918.

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8 "Di mtoz 53337 Zeer A. L. STEERE.

PEANUT PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30. 19:2.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

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A. L. STEERE,

PEANUT PLANTER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 30.1911.

Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ALBERT L. STEERE, OF PETEESBUR-G, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO APPOMATTOX IRON VJ'ORKS AND SUPPLY COMPANY, OF PETEBSBURG, VIRGINIA, A CORPORATIQN OF VIRGINIA.

PEANUT-PLANTER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1918.

Application filed June 30, 1917. Serial No. 178,019.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT L. S'rnnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Petersburg, in the county of Dinwiddie and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Peanut-Planters, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to planters,

. and more particularly to that type of planters wherein the seed, so called, are supplied from a hopper to a rotary wheel, plate or disk, which is formed with a series of pookets, the latter being utilized to deliver the seed, in predetermined number, to a discharge spout, through which they are dropped into the furrow during the rotation of the wheel. It proposes certain improvements, hereinafter fully described, in or relating to the feed wheel and associated parts, whereby the rapidity of feed may be increased or decreased to suit existing conditions, and whereby the picking up of the seed by the pockets, and their delivery from the same to the dropper in the required quantities are facilitated; and it also comprises certain further improved features relating, notably, to the means for closing and tamping the furrow behind the dropper as the travel of the machine proceeds.

The improved implement is designed primarily for use in planting peanuts, and will, in fact, be so shown and described; but it is to be understood that no limitation to such use is contemplated, as will be apparent from the foregoing, since the term seed, as employed above, and in the appended claims, is used in its generic sense as covering both the nut meats or kernels, and vegetable and other seed in the more restricted meaning of the term. Similarly, the invention is not to be considered as limited to the precise structural details disclosed excepting in so far as such limitations are actually imposed by the language of said claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete implement.

F ig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmental plan viewpf the lforward portion of the implement.

Fig. 3 is a transverse, vertical section, on a further enlarged scale, taken substantially on line 33, Fig. 1, but with parts omitted for clearness of illustration.

Figs. 4 and 5 are detail views of the feed wheel, taken from opposite sides thereof.

Figs. 6 to 8 are detail sectional views, showing the feeding action of said wheel in its successive stages, and taken on line 6-6, Fig. 4:.

As shown in said drawing, the improved implement primarily embodies an open or skeleton rectangular frame 1, supported adacent its rear end by a ground wheel 2, and provided at its front end with a suitable furrow opener 3, the latter aranged beneath and fastened to a hopper 4t and having a central, upstanding terminal post 5 at its front end. The ground wheel 2 is mounted upon a transverse shaft or axle 6, and is formed with a concave tread or periphery, which serves to cover over and press down the previously closed furrow, as hereinafter explained, the ends of said aXle being journaled in bearings 7 fastened to the side bars of the frame.

The hopper 4 is here shown as in the form of a box or casing, closed at its top by a hinged lid 8 and provided interiorly with a false inner side 9 which slopes toward the downwardly and rearwardly inclined bottom 10 to cause the nuts to gravitate toward and feed through the opening 11 in the rear wall of the hopper, the feed being controlled by a device which, in the construction illustrated, consists of a sliding gate 12, fitted in guides 13 arranged against the outer face of the hopper wall and provided at its top with an out-turned flange or operating handle 14. On passing through the opening 11, the nuts enter a chute 15, which delivers them to the pocketed feed wheel 16, this chute 15 having its inner wall 17 disposed substantially flush against the adjacent face of said feed wheel, and its outer wall 18 slightly curved and arranged at such an angle to the first-named wall as to hold the nuts against the same, so that they will be crowded toward the delivery opening 19 in said wall.

The feed wheel 16, which presents the most important features of the invention, is mounted directly in rear, and preferably centrally, of the hopper upon a horizontal shaft 20, whose ends are likewise journaled in bearings carried by the frame sides. The shaft 20 is driven from the shaft or axle 6 in such a way that its speed of rotation may be ition 1P 'ch rim: to considered es; the as secured to it a gear 1nd is driten by a gea QC". renioz'ably mounted on a pin or stub carried by he z t which tsite- Wall of the easably coupled.

SS HS shaft in the l. a sleeved end irl fastened to the hopper. The to a sprock to rotate ii coupling being er (s 1 suitable inan- 1l6l,f0l instance by "pfOYl ig the hub of one of said parts with srerse rih and the hub of the other part with a groove '2? to receive said rib. The snrocltet is connected, in turin to a looz arocht 28 on the rude 6 b a chain the l'uLLQ-l sprocket being provided with clutclface LO. which is norinal v forced into e lso loose on pin 23. i Y the sprocket. the

t with a fixed e through the through its suining "hat closed. and thence to the reed The clutch may, however. be x1811 desired l shifting the clutch front the fixed clutch nenil being pro- U vided for rhapurpose and be ng fulcruined bracket 04: secured to the adgaccnt side oi? the e te d nee 16, as previously statei. is

or noel-rots, Whose functo piclr up the nuts deliver the-1n to a spout or dropper, indi .ted at Accordin to th it conuetio tl ese pool; six which are 'esented in i and extend through eel uh diderentl shaped oppoiit-e s The portions 35. r f .0

l. Grill} inceoi the whee are stantiall o in r (I I on axes are L acute angle to toe supporting short 20 so that they open an an le into the oresai will be a; i

end oi each outer and inner half 0t such let pocket by the intersection of the rtiors and 36 thereof, being comprised in the outer portion a @118 other half in the inner portion; and this le lge the Wheel proceeds. serves to retain the two nuts in the outer portion of the pocket and to alternately discharge them into the top of ropper.

Referring to to 8 it- Wlll be obapproach the chute point foremost; and as they pass the ouening 19 in the chute wall 1'? their shellshaped inner portions Will piclr up a numaer of the nuts. that time, the ledge 37 the pocket then opposite the said opening l be substantially in line With the bottom chute, so that the nuts will tend to into the outer portion 36, which, as above is just large enough to receive tvvo of them; se Fig. 6. The pockets are arranged in an approximately circular se ries, dispos l concentric with the 20 from which follows that by the time the Wheel has moved into 'i'" posit-ion the nuts originally contained in the inner pocket section will have dropped back into the ute, While the tivo contained in the outer i will be held in the Wedge-shape;

and the per iendicular inner Wall of 1 Cropper. the latter Wall having the some 'elat-ive DoSlillOll to the outer face of the feed aheel as the chute Wall 17 has to the inner face thereof. is the Wheel continues its rotation, the pocket carried up still higher until it reaches the position represented in I, in which the said outer Wall or the le above the unper edge of the droppc ereupon the two nuts fall from the outer poor: is section into said dropper and one discharged from the lower end thereof into the fuiio'v. it being understood that the discl ge end @i the dropper is positioned with that object in View.

in order to close the furrow as the implement continues its progress, suitable devices are provided in rear or" the hopper these devices being here shown as in the nature of a pair oi narrow plates 338 Wi front or upper portions are connected to the frame ride and whose rear portions are bent downwardly and rearwardly so as to wipe along the furrow from opposite sides. I bars are pretl erablv so constructed as t init them to be set at different angle n-rows of difi'erent de iths, or, it de.

tl W them into ineffective position. Pic cordingly, EllclI iront ends are enlarged to orin heads 39 which are provided upon .fuce. with teeth 40, for co-action he r inner with siinarl r arranged. teeth il formed on +1 an, i .9. e -11. 3. 1e inner races or a pan or piates :2 (llC' the inner h cos of the frame rides, the pairs of plates and heads being as the rotation of i bet vecn the inclined outer Wall 01" the 1 p. 7

clamped together and fastened to said frame sides by bolts 43, equipped with tightening nuts n, as shown in Fig. 2. The bars, however, exercise merely a superficial closing action upon the furrow, the final closing or covering being effected by the concave pe riphery of the ground wheel 2, which is ar ranged in line with the furrow opener, so that it will ride over and, to some extent at least, pack down the earth on the top of the furrow.

The standard or post 5 on the front end of the furrow opener is provided with a vertical series of perforations 45, to permit the adjustable attachment of a clevis or the like (not shown) thereto; and the frame is provided with the usual guide handles 46 which are fastened at their lower extremities to the frame sides and may be supported and braced in any desired manner.

The operation of the implement as above described is believed to be fully apparent, the feed of the nuts taking place at regular intervals. It is an important feature of the invention, however, to provide means whereby the periods intervening between succeeding discharges may be increased or decreased, or, in other words, whereby the feed may be accelerated or retarded, with a proportionate variation in the distance between the deposits in the furrow. This variation may be effected by mounting the supportingpin bracket 2st in such a way that it can be raised or lowered, thus permitting gears of larger or smaller diameter than the gear to be substituted for that gear. Accordingly, the said bracket 24, which is pivoted at its front end at 2&5 to the hopper side, and carries the supporting sleeve 2% at its rear end, is provided intermediate its ends with an arcuate slot d7, through which projects a horizontal threaded pin or bolt 48 that is fixed to the hopper and is furnished at its outer end with a clamping nut 49; such construction enabling the bracket to be set to the required position to receive the different sized driving gears, as will be understood, with the result that the speed of rotation of the feed wheel relative to the rate of travel of the implement is correspondingly varied. If desired, moreover, the sprocket which is coupled to drive the aforesaid gear 22, may also be removed and replaced by a larger or smaller sprocket, thus providing a further variation in the speed of the feed wheel.

Further description of the invention, its construction, mode of operation and advantages, is believed to be unnecessary in view of the foregoing, and is, accordingly, omitted. It may be stated, however, that the chute 15 is preferably provided at its delivery end with a depending apron or guard 155 (Figs. 3, a and 6), which is formed integrally therewith and extends directly across the inner face of the feed wheel 16,

so as to completely prevent the nuts, on euteri-ng the ascending pocket, from falling out therefrom. Also, it is preferable to fill in the space between the feed wheel and the rear wall of the hopper a, to avoid any clanger of the nuts falling into this space on being discharged from the pockets as the latter reach the top of the dropper, 38; and for that purpose, a bl0ck'156 (Figs. 1 and 5) may be utilized, said block having a concave rear face, as shown, and being either rigidly Or adjustably mounted, according as may be desired. Finally, the said dropper 38 may advantageously be mounted for vertical adjustment on the aforesaid rear wall of the hopper l, for which purpose it is provided with a lateral flange 888, having a slot-and-bolt connection 389 with said hopper wall, as represented in Fig. 3.

I claim as my invention;

1. In a planter, the combination of a seedcontaining hopper, a rotary feed wheel formed with a series of pockets which open through its opposite sides and have inner angularly intersecting reversely inclined walls, each of the said pockets comprising an inner enlarged section which initially receives the seeds from the said hopper, and an outer section into which the seeds pass from the in ner section over the said reversely inclined walls, said outer section adapted to carry the seeds partway around therein and then discharge them at a predetermined point, and means for driving the said wheel.

2. In a planter, the combination of a seed-containing hopper; a rotary feed wheel formed with a series of pockets which open through its opposite faces; a dropper having a fiat wall arranged against the outer face of the feed wheel; each pocket of said wheel comprising an inner section adapted to in itially receive the seeds from said hopper, and an outer section into which the seeds pass from said inner section adapted to carry the seeds across said dropper wall and discharge them over the edge thereof into the dropper; feed wheel.

3. In a planter, the combination of a seedcontaining hopper; a rotary feed wheel formed with a series of pockets which open through its opposite faces; a dropper having a flat wall arranged against the outer face of the feed wheel; each pocket of said wheel comprising an inner section adapted to initially receive the seeds from said hopper, and an outer section into which the seeds pass from said inner section adapted to carry the seeds across said dropper wall and discharge them over the edge thereof into the dropper, the formation of said inner and outer sections producing a V-shaped ledge and means for driving said In testimony whereoi 7 i HZWG AGEGUIUZO set @eples m may be eh'teined for five each, "joy afichessing the fiommissionez' my hand in presence of two subscribing Witmesses.

ALBERT L. STEERE.

Witnesses LUCY B. SHACKELEORD, Enssm F. EDMUNDS. 

